The world that isn’t there anymore

Here’s the thing. I’m not Jewish. Sometimes I wish I was. There was a time that I said I am just to piss of some anti semites.

There always was some kind of regret in me after jewish minority in my country. Regret that it doesn’t exist anymore, that it doesn’t make all the culture richer, that I can’t see this diversity around me. I miss the times that I never saw, that I was never part of.

On one weekend I was in very strange, gloomy, little depressing mood. Although it’s summer, weather is beautifull, I got this idea to paint portraits of the photos of the Jewish people just before II WW.It is a bit of soul cleansing process for me, it’s very delicate and personal subject. Sadness istn’t the word big enough. Something between melancholy, emptyness, longing in a heart.

There is this world in yiddish- “Polin”, which means: here you may rest. When in 1492 first Jewish came to Poland they thought name of the country was exactly- Polin. They took it as a good sign and they were immigrating here a lot. For a couple houndreds of years Jewish community lived peacefully on this land. What happened after- we all know history.There is a hole, something missing in my soul. These paintings are my way of filling this emptiness.